


Drawing Flowers

by Tpants



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dorks in Love, F/F, Flower Languages, a very brief mention of Charlie, crushing so hard they missed, pinning is probably the more appropriate term
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-01
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-07-05 06:37:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15858237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tpants/pseuds/Tpants
Summary: Fleur is a tattoo artist and Tonks has trouble staying put.





	Drawing Flowers

**Author's Note:**

> For Flonksfest 2018  
> Prompt: Tattoo artist/Florist  
> Thank you @chasingbluefish for beta-ing.  
> Any and all mistakes are mine.  
> Flower notes at the end just to prevent spoilers. I did that thing where I overthink.

Nymphadora Tonks could never quite manage to put down roots. 

For twenty seven years, she would fly in and out of a plethora interests, never staying grounded to any one thing. Her hair color changed with the seasons, she moved to cities that never slept, villages that never seemed to wake...but she always returned to the sleepy town by the shore.

Fleur Delacour had taken to watching Tonks since she had moved into that same sleepy town six years prior. She watched as Tonks would leave and return every three months to her mother's flower shop. While Tonks never put down roots, Fleur did. Moving into town the moment she finished her high school degree, Fleur went to make a future for herself in a new place. She quickly learned the ways of the town, took an apprenticeship with the local tattoo artist, and got an iris tattoo across her right collar bone. While Tonks was deciding on that month's hair, Fleur cut her long platinum locks into a blunt bob with a pair of shears on the table and that was the style she kept. 

Fleur never understood why Tonks first came into her shop. Tattoos did not suit someone like Tonks. But Tonks looked at the art, paid for Fleur to do a concept design, and then changed her mind. First, it was unicorns because "I think it expresses what I am". Then it was dragons, because "I think I want to be that". Tonks still hadn't decided on a tattoo before she left for three months in Bali.

 

\-----

 

It had been two weeks since Tonks moved back home, her hair the shades of turquoise, blues, purples, and pinks, inspired by the waters of Thailand. 

"How long do you think you'll be here this time?" Fleur asked, not looking up from her sketchbook. Fleur had her own designated stool in the flower shop.   


"I don't know, I thought I was going to stay longer in Thailand, you know? But after Mali, I just couldn't stay there anymore." Tonks was cutting off the bottom of the new delivery to put in a bucket of water.

"Your ex-girlfriend?" Fleur looked up from the orchids she was sketching, a gift Tonks brought back from Thailand.

"I don't think I can call them my ex-girlfriend since Thailand doesn't quite practice the gender binary like we do. Mali is kathoey, I think the closest explanation in English is a 'third gender'." There was no condescending tone or smugness in Tonks' voice.

"A former lover?" Fleur offered and went back to shading, moving both her feet on to the stool's rail. "Your bucket is overflowing, mon ami."

"Oh shit!" Tonks reached over to turn off the water, but not before it was already sloshing across the floor. "Yeah, I don't know. That sounds too heavy. I thought we flowed well together since we don't color in the lines, but we didn't fit."

"People aren't clothes, mon ami." Fleur closed the sketch book and leaned over the counter. "You can't fit into them or make them fit over you."

"I meant like puzzle pieces, Fleur."

"People aren't puzzle pieces either, Tonks."

 

\-----  
  


It had been one week since Tonks had returned from a two month trip in Brazil. Fleur was drawing daisies dancing on Tonk's arm while the shop was empty. "Do you think this time you'll commit to a tattoo?" She pulled the pen away before Tonks could shrug, her hair was red, orange, and pink like the sunsets of the southern hemisphere.

"I don't know. They're so simple now that I look at them." Tonks looked into Fleur's big blue eyes. "I don't think I can do that anymore since I saw all the bright feathers. Maybe I don't suit daisies."

"Why not?" Fleur asked, capping her pen and reaching for the box of markers.

"They're so...simple. " Tonks moved so that Fleur could shift to sit in the chair with her while Fleur colored the daisies with markers, making sure to not keep in the lines.

"You said you like them because they can take on any color you add to their water.” Fleur didn’t move when Tonks’ head rested on her shoulder.

“But what if I get bored of them?”

“Then I’ll add color to them.”

Tonks thought about that when she was washing off the daisies in the bath. She wished that they had stayed.

 

\-----

 

Tonks had only been home for three hours before she called Fleur out for a drink at the local tavern. Fleur ran through the rain to meet her for the first time in a month.

“Sorry, to drag you out in this weather.” Tonks already had two ciders waiting for them at the table with a vase of little light pink flowers. 

“No problem at all, I wasn’t doing anything.” Fleur answered taking a seat, motioning to the flowers in the vase. “I didn’t know you can take cut flowers from one country to the next.” 

Tonks grinned then, “You can’t. But they’re sea thrift and I wanted you to see them at least. They’re all over Iceland’s shore, demanding your attention with the graceful way they sway above the grass. Made me want to see you. ”

Fleur could feel the color warm up her face and she couldn’t hold Tonks’ gaze. Instead, she reached for the cider. “..Maybe next time, I can come with you.” 

“I could never cut you from your roots, Fleur. Flowers don’t live long once you cut them.” Tonks liked the way Fleur’s cheeks matched the sea thrifts.

“I’m not a flower, Tonks.” Fleur answered, sharply. “I’m not going to die if I leave here.” 

Tonks grasped at words to fill in the silence. “...I just didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable.”

Setting down her cider, Fleur picked out one of the sea thrifts and placed it among Tonks’ pastel blue hair. “I think I’m very comfortable with you, I’m comfortable with changes, too, Nym.”

“...Nym?” Tonks raises an eyebrow.

“I think it suits you.” Fleur answered.

It was Tonks’ turn to blush. 

  
  


The next morning, Fleur woke up, checked the sea thrifts, and went to work with them. Once she settled down, she sat at the counter, looking out the window to see the flower shop.The flower shop had opened an hour earlier, but it would be a couple of hours before Tonks would make an appearance. 

How many times could she watch Tonks make her way to work before she disappeared for some far off land? Fleur opened her sketch book to the last page, where she had the world’s map. Looking at the sea thrifts, she started to sketch it lightly over Iceland. Thailand had orchids, gerbera daisies over Brazil, Plumeria over Bali…She should have started with a bigger map or Tonks needed to start traveling further out to Russia or maybe Hawaii..or just stay in England. There was room there. 

Fleur nearly fell out of her seat when a stem of bluebells were suddenly obstructing her vision. 

“Tonks!” Fleur straightened herself on her seat. 

“Ding, ding, ding! That’s right! And the prize for guessing the right person, you get a bluebell!” Tonks did the thing where she leaned against the counter to invade Fleur’s space, placing the bluebells behind Flonk's ear, and smiled like she belonged there. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I just wanted to surprised you with the first bluebell of the season.”

Taking the offered stem, Fleur added it to the sea thrift vase. “How do you know it’s the first of the season, Nym?” After all, Tonks was time for the start of the season.

“It’s the first one I saw this season. Is that name going to stick with me forever?”

“Do you not like it?”

“I like it. It’s a nice change.” Tonks answered, looking at the sketchbook Fleur left open on the counter. “...you forgot the roses I got you before.” 

Fleur blushed and quickly closed the book. “What roses?” She drew every single flower that Tonks brought her. She never forgot one, including the baby breath that Tonks pulled out of her hair when she had tipped over a bouquet.

“I got you some yellow roses with red tips back when I was still deciding on dragon tattoos.”

Fleur stared at Tonks. “...No, you didn’t. You dropped them off to Charlie and ran out.” 

Tonks’ face turned red. “No, I was trying to tell him that they were for you, but you were doing that thing where you look at me like I’ve got something on my face and I had to run and check!” 

“...we’re a tattoo shop, we have mirrors everywhere, Nym.” 

“That’s beside the point, they were for you, Fleur. Not Charlie. Kid loves dogs more than people, why would I be giving him roses?!” 

“...Why would you be giving me roses?” 

“Fleur, beautiful, smart Fleur. You’re a tattoo artist. You should have some idea of the languages of flowers.”

And the other shoe finally dropped and Fleur’s face matched the same hue as Tonk’s hair. “Oh.”

“Yeah. Oh.” 

Silence hung between them. 

“If...I had realized they were for me, I would have suggested a date somewhere.” Fleur broke the silence, letting her hand wander over her sketchbook. 

“Yeah? I was thinking of leaving this week to the Netherlands…” 

“Already?” Fleur slipped off of her seat. “I mean, you were barely home, Nym.”

“I meant, if you would be willing to come with me...the red tulips are supposed to be blooming and stunning this time of year.” 

Tonks’ eyes avoided Fleur, but she stubbornly held on to the counter, refusing to leave without an answer. Fleur reached out and laced her long fingers with Tonks’. 

“Mon Couer.” Tonks peeked one eye up to look at Fleur’s smile. “I don’t think there is enough space for me to draw tulips on Netherland in my map.”

“That's...that’s fine! You can draw them on me, instead! I won’t even wash them off!” 

Fleur laughed, “You don’t have to do that! I’ll re-draw them over and over if you need. I’ll draw all your tattoos on you every morning if you want, Nym.” 

Tonks’ eyes glisten with mischief, tugging Fleur from behind the counter. “If you’re going to be drawing all my tattoos for the rest of my life,” Fleur gracefully trailed behind Tonks, their hands never parting as they ran across the street. “Mum’s going to have to order us some wisteria before we leave!”

“Why do we need wisteria?”

“For good luck on our journey, Fleur!” 

**Author's Note:**

> Flower meanings:  
> Iris: Royalty, also cause Fleur-de-lis for the kings of France and Fleur’s a Queen  
> Plumeria: New beginnings, dedication  
> Orchids: love and beauty  
> Gerbera daisies: Happiness  
> Bluebells: Humility, gratitude, everlasting love  
> Yellow with red tip roses: Friendship, Falling in love  
> Red tulips: Declaration of love  
> Wisteria: Good luck for a new journey or marriage


End file.
